Turel (Soul Reaver 2 boss)
Enemies article |image=SR2-Screenshot-Enemy-Turel.png |caption=Turel in Soul Reaver 2. |introduced= Soul Reaver 2 (2001) |appearances= Soul Reaver 2 }} In the final areas of Soul Reaver 2, shortly after retrieving the Reaver, Raziel faced the Sarafan commander Turel in combat. The battle took place in the raised choir of the Sanctuary Cathedral area of the Sarafan Stronghold. Profile After witnessing the death of Janos Audron at the hands of the Sarafan commander group, Raziel pursued them as they retreated to the Sarafan Stronghold carrying with them the Heart of Darkness and Reaver blade. Infiltrating the stronghold, Raziel was able to recover the Reaver during a brief confrontation with Malek and Moebius but soon found himself channeled into combat with the commanders themselves - as he was initially confronted with Melchiah and Zephon in the Cloister and then met Rahab and Dumah in the nave of Sanctuary. When Raziel reached the raised choir of the Sanctuary area of the Stronghold, locked gates and Doors sealed the exits and he was he was confronted by the commander Turel. Unlike other 'boss' battles in the series, the battles with the commanders had no puzzle aspect to them and were treated the same as any regular combat encounter - albeit against incredibly powerful opposition and with Raziel invincible due to the effects of the Reaver. At a distance all the commanders would walk slowly, while in direct combat Turel had power, speed, health and defensive capabilities far exceeding that of ordinary enemies, and even exceeding the subordinate commanders. Armed with a pike, Turel was a mid-range fighter (broadly comparable to Sarafan warrior pikemen, though with an extended range due to the longer pike weapon), attacking viciously and often with a series of jabbing and sweeping strikes, frequent lunges and relentless blocking, but also being somewhat vulnerable to counters and lunges himself. The first commander to be faced alone, Turel represented a large step up in combat capability over the previously faced commanders. But with Raziel's Health coil sustained by the Reaver, any damage was healed almost immediately, making the defeat of the commanders inevitable. Upon Turel's death his soul was released but quickly rose away, Raziel then headed into the Chapter House and the final confrontation with his former self. Notes *The battles against the warrior commanders in Soul Reaver 2 are arguably not true boss encounters. Unlike battles against major characters in other titles in the series, these battles were confined to a final 'rush' at the climax of the game, contained only regular combat with no puzzle element, conferred no special abilities upon completion and did not mark the end of 'levels' (Turel is something of an exception, with his defeat formally marking the end of chapter 9) - apparently efforts by developers to avoid the artificial nature of levels and boss battles. The final rush arguably begins at the onset of Blade of Vengeance, as after leaving Janos Audron's Retreat Raziel is confronted by increasingly difficult battles against various Demons utilizing Combat barriers (each similarly marked by a cutscene), culminating in the battles with the commanders. *In game files, textures used for Turel are labelled as "turel" and "mrd_tur". *The Sarafan Turel is memorialized in the Chapter House of the Sarafan Stronghold in the [[History preceding Blood Omen|history preceding Blood Omen]]. In this depiction, Turel is depicted with a Sarafan Trident instead of the pike he carries in the battle against Raziel, perhaps hinting at the versatile combat skills of the commanders. Turel can also be observed among the commanders infiltrating Janos Audron's Retreat in Nosgoth's early history and is one of the few commanders to speak in the encounter. *With Turel's death, the Reaver can be seen drinking his Blood and his soul can be observed departing the body. The souls of the commanders, destined to become lieutenants in Kain's empire, were colored blue unlike other human souls (which were yellow) and quickly rose away, unable to be consumed by Raziel or the Reaver (hinting at later revelations about the nature of the blade). After his death, Turel's body was taken with the other commanders and interred in the Tomb of the Sarafan, providing the corpses for Kain to revive as a lieutenants a millennium later, keeping them ignorant of their human lives. *Using the debug menu it is possible to skip passed the scene where Raziel gains the Reaver and battle the commanders unarmed without the healing effects of the Reaver, presenting a much greater gameplay challenge than the usual fight where Raziel is invincible. This allowed Raziel to enter the Spectral Realm in these locations and recover the Pikes (and swords) of the commanders as weapons, but did not allow Raziel to consume their souls, which were unaffected by attempts to devour them. *Turel's Sarafan appearance contains subtle references to his later vampire forms, in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Turel's facial appearance and hairstyle is notably similar to those observed in his initial vampire form (seen in the Soul Reaver opening prologue). His helmet is adorned with large horns, foreshadowing the physical traits of the Vampire he would later become. He wears gray, gilded armor, with large, quarter-circular pauldrons decorated with runes, and the symbol which would later be adopted by the Turelim clan and the Hash'ak'gik cult is seen on his lower vestment, with the color-coding of Turel's armor also matching the light green color of his clan standards in Soul Reaver. The Sarafan Turel also taunts Raziel by telling him to "Get back to the pit you crawled from, demon!", foreshadowing both Turel's possession and his place of imprisonment in Defiance. Additionally, Turel is one of the few commanders with eyes which appear human-like when their helmet is worn, perhaps relating to the more humanoid devolution of Turel originally planned to feature in Soul Reaver. Turel at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) *The order of the encounters in Soul Reaver 2 also closely matches the planned order of the boss encounters (and by extension the revival and ranking order of the Vampire Council members) in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, with Turel the second created and ranked of the lieutenants (fifth-weakest), encountered (or planned to be encountered) as the fifth lieutenant in each title Turel at The Lost Worlds (by Ben Lincoln) and is explicitly identified in stage directions here as "Raziel's former second-in-command, both as Sarafan and vampire." This ranking is not necessarily related to human age, with Raziel acknowledged as the youngest and Turel the oldest at the time of their human deaths. Some questions about SR2 Sarafan at DCabDesign (by Lexy), post #3 (by Daniel Cabuco) See also *Sanctuary *Sarafan commanders *Turel *Turel (Soul Reaver boss) *Turel (Defiance boss) References Browse Category:Enemies Category:Enemies/Bosses Category:Enemies/Soul Reaver 2 Category:Enemies/Soul Reaver 2 bosses Category:Soul Reaver 2